Jurong Point
Jurong Point (Chinese: 裕廊坊) is a suburban shopping mall in Jurong West, Singapore. It is next to Boon Lay MRT station and Boon Lay Bus Interchange. The centre features more than 450 shops, making it the largest suburban mall in Singapore, a record previously held by VivoCity which had at least 335 shops. History Jurong Point first opened its doors on 5 December 1995 with 95 retailers including Courts, NTUC FairPrice, Kopitiam, Old Chang Kee and Soo Kee Jewellery. All were setting up shop in a mall environment for the first time and have not moved out since then. Since its opening, it had two extensions. In 1998, an additional of space was successfully secured for the first extension of Jurong Point, which opened in December 2000, adding more than 160 new tenants. In 2006, the mall underwent a major expansion, which included building a new retail wing, the air conditioned Boon Lay Bus Interchange and a residential development, The Centris. The new wing, containing 230 shops, opened in December 2008. The number of parking lots increased from 415 to 1425. The Centris was completed in mid 2009, and the Boon Lay Bus Interchange opened in December 2009. At the same time, Rubi Shoes store opened at Jurong Point in January 2010, and Jurong Point also added NTUC FairPrice Xtra store and upgraded the NTUC FairPrice store into the NTUC FairPrice Finest. Uniqlo opened a store on 8 November 2014. In July 2016, with the closure of John Little, BHG later secured tenancy at Jurong Point and opened in December 2016. The owner is Mercatus Co-operative Pte Ltd (under M Malls and it is managed under the NTUC), similar to Serangoon Nex and AMK Hub. Electricity and Wi-Fi A 35-year old man has been staying in Jurong Point shopping mall for four years, using the water, electricity and Wi-Fi there. Mr Chen Jinfu, who works at an electronics factory, makes his "home" outside the mall, along walkways or at staircases there, Lianhe Wanbao reported on Monday (Jan 16). Wanbao visited the mall in Jurong West and found him sitting on some newspapers, watching a show on his tablet device while drinking soya bean milk and eating bread. He told Wanbao that he rents a shared room in Boon Lay, but finds the room hot and stuffy, saying he prefers to live at Jurong Point as the $250 room was "no good" and he could not get along with the other tenants. He added that it was cooler at Jurong Point, which is open late and has a 24-hour supermarket, and that he could use the free Wi-Fi and was able charge his phone at the mall. A spokesman for Jurong Point told The Straits Times it welcomed Mr Chen as long as he did not pose a nuisance. "We're heartened that shoppers enjoy using this facility," she said, referring to the complimentary Wi-Fi the mall began offering in 2015. "If Mr Chen Jinfu uses our facilities in an appropriate fashion without posing any nuisance or threat to the mall's security, we warmly welcome him like any other shopper." Mr Chen, who is from Ipoh in Malaysia, has worked in Singapore for more than 10 years and currently earns more than $1,000 a month. He claimed that he has never been chased away, and said he has seen others loitering in the area like himself. When asked why he rented a place even though he preferred staying at Jurong Point, Mr Chen said that he needed a residential address for his employment pass. To maximise his savings, Mr Chen goes to Johor nearly every weekend to buy daily necessities. He visits his retired parents in Ipoh only once a year during Chinese New Year as it is "not cheap to travel there". Mr Chen is apparently not the first to seek unconventional lodgings. Two weeks ago, there were reports of a woman who lived in Changi Airport while renting out her three-room flat. Tenants JP1 has about 220 retailers and JP2 has about 230, adding to a total of 450 retailers. This makes it Singapore's largest shopping mall in number of tenants, compared to 335 in VivoCity. John Little was closed on 24 August 2016 and was replaced by BHG. Decathlon had opened one new outlet at Joo Koon and Tuas. *NTUC FairPrice Xtra (JP2) *NTUC FairPrice Finest (JP1) *EC House *RUBI Shoes *4Fingers *BHG *Charles & Keith *TEMT *Shokutsu Ten *MOF My Izakaya *Golden Village *Courts *Harvey Norman *Uniqlo *Kopitiam *Cantine *Chateraise *KOI The *Yue Hwa Chinese Products *Sushi Express *MOS Burger *McDonald's *Giordano *DBS Bank/POSB Bank NTUC FairPrice Xtra Have u visited Jurong Point NTUC? #CC25 Haw Par Villa #CC1 Dhoby Ghaut #NS15 Yio Chu Kang #NS16 Ang Mo Kio #NS22 Orchard #EW5 Bedok #EW27 Boon Lay #EW29 Joo Koon #NE17 Punggol #NE14 Hougang #NE12 Serangoon #CC28 Telok Blangah The Centris A condominium, called "The Centris", occupies levels 5 to 16 of JP2. It has 610 units, all of which are fully sold. It gained its Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) in July 2009.Housing market shows classic recovery signs Boon Lay Bus Interchange The old bus interchange has turned into the new extension building of Jurong Point, hence it shares the same postal code as the old bus interchange, 'Singapore 648881'. The new Boon Lay Bus Interchange is fully air-conditioned and has 60 bus bays with escalators linking from JP2 Level 3, near FairPrice Xtra, JP2 Basement 1, beside Stalford Learning Centre, and three links from JP2 Level 1. It was opened on 27 December 2009. Together with Jurong Point Shopping Mall, and Boon Lay MRT station, they are part of the Boon Lay Integrated Public Transport Hub. References External links * Category:Shopping malls in Singapore Category:Jurong West